Class Meeting Schedules

Each class in Helium can have one or more schedules. A schedule is a meeting pattern — the days and times a class meets — and Helium uses it to generate recurring Class Schedule items on your Planner for every occurrence within the class’s date range.

Most classes need just one simple weekly schedule. But a class can also have several schedules at once (a lecture plus a separate lab), follow a rotating pattern (A/B days or a fixed-length cycle), or have a schedule that runs for only part of the term.

Opening the Schedule Tab

All schedules are managed from the Schedule tab of a class.

  1. Open Classes and click a class
  2. Go to the Schedule tab
  3. Under Schedules, click the + button to create a schedule, or click an existing schedule to edit it

Each schedule appears as its own card showing its days and times. To remove a schedule, use the delete icon on its card.

A schedule is optional — if a class has no fixed meeting time, you can leave the Schedule tab with no schedules.

Weekly Schedules

A weekly schedule meets on the same days every week.

  1. In the schedule editor, make sure Weekly is selected at the top
  2. Under Class Days, click each day the class meets to include it
  3. Set the Class Time — the Start and End times
  4. If the class meets at different times on different days (e.g., a Friday lab runs longer), check Varies by day to set independent start and end times for each selected day
  5. Click Save

Rotating Schedules

If your school runs a rotating schedule — A/B days, a fixed-length day cycle, or alternating weeks — where the meeting pattern doesn’t line up with an ordinary calendar week, choose Rotating at the top of the schedule editor, then pick a pattern from the Rotation dropdown.

Day Cycles

A day cycle rotates through a fixed sequence of school days — labeled A Day/B Day for the A/B option, or Day 1, Day 2, and so on for the numbered cycles — advancing one cycle day per school day, independent of the calendar week.

  1. Select A/B Day, 6-Day Cycle, 7-Day Cycle, 8-Day Cycle, or 10-Day Cycle from the Rotation dropdown
  2. For each cycle day (A Day/B Day, or Day 1, Day 2, …, depending on the option selected), toggle whether the class meets and set its Start and End times
  3. Set Cycle Day 1 falls on to the calendar date your cycle’s first day lands on — A Day, if you selected A/B Day — so Helium can line the rotation up with your calendar
  4. Click Save

If your school uses a cycle length Helium doesn’t offer, let us know and we’ll look at adding it.

Week Rotations (Week A/B)

A week rotation has the class meet every other week, alternating by calendar week. You may also know this as odd/even weeks, single/double weeks, or fortnightly. For example, a class that meets only on “A” weeks.

  1. Select Week A/B from the Rotation dropdown
  2. Choose the weekly pattern under Class Days and Class Time, the same way as a weekly schedule
  3. Under Which week, pick the week in the rotation this schedule meets on (Week A, Week B, …)
  4. Set Week A begins on to the date the first week of the rotation starts, so Helium knows which calendar week is which
  5. Click Save

Note: Helium counts forward from the Week A begins on date — that week is A, the next is B, and so on. Set it to the first day of the earliest week your rotation is “on,” per your school’s calendar. If the Planner shows the pattern flipped after you save, shift the anchor one week.

If your “A” and “B” weeks have different day patterns, set up a separate schedule for each — one for Week A and one for Week B.

Limiting a Schedule to Part of the Term

By default a schedule runs for the class’s whole date range. To limit one schedule to a shorter window — for example, a lab that only meets during the first six weeks — give that schedule its own dates:

  1. In the schedule editor, find Class Dates
  2. Turn on Custom range
  3. Set the From and To dates for this schedule

Only this schedule is affected; the rest of the class keeps its normal date range. This is useful for labs, review sessions, or any block that runs for only part of the term.

Note: To make an entire class start late or end early, set the class’s own From / To on the Details tab instead. Use Custom range here only when one schedule needs a shorter window while the rest of the class keeps meeting.

You can combine a custom range with a rotation — for example, a lab that meets only on “B” weeks and only during the first eight weeks of term: set up the Week A/B rotation, then turn on Custom range and set the window to those eight weeks.

Where Schedules Appear

Class Schedule items appear on the Week, Day, Month, and Agenda views of the Planner. They do not appear in the Todos view, which shows assignments only. If a schedule isn’t showing up, see Why Items Aren’t Showing on the Planner.

To skip individual sessions or block out term-wide holidays, see Cancelling Class Sessions and Setting Term Holidays.

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